Best-selling author Daniel Silva came to Dallas on Monday night, touting his new novel, The Other Woman. It's the fifth Silva novel that deals heavily with an old nemesis — Russia. His 2016 Dallas appearance sold out easily, so Rachelle Weiss Crane, who produces the book festival for the Jewish Community Center, felt compelled to move Silva's latest stop from the Zale Auditorium at the J to Congregation Shearith Israel.

The Zale has a seating capacity of 500, but Silva drew more than 600 to Shearith Israel. That's even more impressive, considering that tickets cost $30 in advance and $40 at the door. In the world of books, that's a big crowd for a paid event. Silva hurriedly signed 500 copies of his novel in the hour before his appearance, which included fascinating comments about Vladimir Putin and Russia (the author is a fan of neither).

Best-selling author Daniel Silva signs more than 500 copies of his novel, The Other Woman, before an event at Congregation Shearith Israel, sponsored by the Jewish Community Center of Dallas, on July 23, 2018.

Eight of Silva's nearly two-dozen novels have debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list, prompting me, the moderator at Monday's event, to call him "the New England Patriots of spy novelists." The quick-witted Silva said in response: "But I use only fully inflated footballs."